Over recent years, successive Governments of Anguilla earmarked Blowing Point Port and Road Bay Port, Sandy Ground, for improvement – and in each case some work was done at each location.
A new ferry terminal is soon to be built at Blowing Point – and at Road Bay a new cargo jetty, financed by the UK Government, is well under construction.
In the longer term, there was talk about a proposed deep water harbour at Corito, on the southern coast of Anguilla, but nothing has been heard about that proposal. Now, the newly-appointed Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Haydn Hughes, has told The Anguillian newspaper that he has his eyes on a deep water harbour at Corito. While he appreciates the new Road Bay jetty, as part of the general development of Anguilla, he is not in agreement with that project.
“The Road Bay project is full speed ahead, but I have never been a fan of the Road Bay pier which started before I came to office,” he stated. “I have placed it on record and I have told His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Tim Foy, that if I was the Minister of Infrastructure then, it would never have happened. I say that with all due respect to the Governor because I have the utmost respect for him. He is the third Governor I have worked with. I have worked with Christina Scott who was reasonably a wonderful lady. I worked with Alistair Harrison, and now I am working with Tim Foy and he has seemingly relegated all the other Governors to the rear view mirror. I believe Tim Foy genuinely likes Anguilla. I believe that he genuinely cares about the people of Anguilla. But I do not believe in the decision to develop that port facility in Sandy Ground.
“I believe that, for all intents and purposes, it destroyed one of our better beaches and displaced people in the area. I think we should have gone with the Halcrow consultancy, that was done back in 2008, which suggested and stated that Corito would be the best place for a deep water harbour. That would give us a scope of three hundred years. The port that we are putting in Sandy Ground can only give us twenty-five years maximum. That is not good for me because I will still be around as I plan to live a very long life. But twenty-five years is not a good lifespan for a port facility and for a country. You need to have a facility that is in a location with scope for perpetuity; that you can maintain and expand as the need arises; and you can forecast that need based on our census and an analysis of the growth of the country. Then we can expand our ports to suit.”
Mr. Hughes added: “I still have my eyes on Corito. I don’t know if I have the time because five years in Government is a short time. So I won’t promise that Corito will be done in my time, but my ultimate vision for Anguilla is to have that facility done at Corito. It may not happen in ten, fifteen or twenty years, but that is the ultimate goal – not only for me – but it is what the experts have suggested and stated.”
